As prospective students and their families toured the Boston University campus yesterday, the springtime sun brightening up Commonwealth Avenue, they weighed the increasing costs of tuition against academic quality and wellbeing.
Some parents and high schoolers said BU’s tuition, room and board rate set at $47,958 for next year will affect their college decisions, while others said finances will not be the admissions deal breaker.
Randi Rosenberg of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., said she does not want money to be the determining factor for her daughter, Lauren, and how she will spend four years of her life.
“We want her to go to a school where she really wants to go, where she can thrive,” Rosenberg said. “We don’t want the tuition right now to hold her back.”
Rosenberg said the schools Lauren will apply to vary in price, and the most important aspect is the educational value of any university. Besides BU, the Rosenbergs are also looking at Brown University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Maryland and the University of Pittsburgh.
Kate Pearce, a high school junior from Houston, said she can only attend a university that offers scholarships and financial aid that would cover at least half of her private-university tuition. She said the final cost is the most important factor in her decision process, weighing more heavily than location and school size.
Pearce is considering schools in the Northeast with tuition costs in the same range as BU, including Boston College, Brown University, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University, she said. She’s also looking at less expensive schools in her home state of Texas.
Some families said costs will affect their final college decisions, but other factors are at play.
Jess Filderman, a high school junior from Baltimore, said she is more concerned with the quality of different schools’ engineering tracks, their location and their size than their cost right now.
“I think it will play a role more after we see where she gets in,” her father, Peter Filderman, said. “I don’t think that we will rule any place out based on cost, and once she gets in . . . that will help to decide.”
Goucher College transfer student Adriana Beltrani said she wants a school with a strong environmental science program that is closer to her hometown of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., rather than one that is necessarily inexpensive.
“Thankfully, I’m not in that position that I have to consider it that thoroughly,” Beltrani said. “I mean, I love this school . . . The tuition is definitely a factor, it’s just not one of the main factors.”
Beltrani said her parents are trying to persuade her to attend the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry because it has cheaper state tuition rates and a strong program in her field of study.
“My parents kind of say wherever makes me happy,” Beltrani said. “For me the location is [important], and the program here is equally fantastic.”
Two College of Communication, three School of Education and two College of Arts and Sciences professors asked for their opinions on BU’s tuition increase all declined comment yesterday.